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The Paradox of Elites in Civil Society : A Comparative Study on Civil Society Leaders’ Satisfaction with Democracy in the UK and Sweden

Baxter, Megan K. ; Lee, Jayeon ; Odai, Minja and Scaramuzzino, Roberto LU (2024) In Voluntas
Abstract
The presence of an elite group in civil society elicits a discursive friction between the long-standing normative understanding of civil society, acting as a check on government overreach and autocratic tendencies, and elite theories. Robert Michels’s iron law of oligarchy posits that as individuals rise in the ranks to become organizational leaders, they begin to take on elite attributes, and their priorities align with those of other elites and away from those of their constituents. Michels’s argument echoes with today’s populist anti-elitist rhetoric and the way populism rejects any intermediary bodies between the people and the political leaders, including interest organizations in civil society. As an attempt to empirically probe this... (More)
The presence of an elite group in civil society elicits a discursive friction between the long-standing normative understanding of civil society, acting as a check on government overreach and autocratic tendencies, and elite theories. Robert Michels’s iron law of oligarchy posits that as individuals rise in the ranks to become organizational leaders, they begin to take on elite attributes, and their priorities align with those of other elites and away from those of their constituents. Michels’s argument echoes with today’s populist anti-elitist rhetoric and the way populism rejects any intermediary bodies between the people and the political leaders, including interest organizations in civil society. As an attempt to empirically probe this theoretical tension, this paper explores satisfaction with the way democracy is working among the top-level leaders of the most well resourced national-level civil society organizations in Sweden and in the UK, drawing on a survey study conducted in 2020–21. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
Civil society leaders, Democracy, Elite, Power, Representation
in
Voluntas
publisher
Springer
ISSN
0957-8765
DOI
10.1007/s11266-024-00669-0
project
Civil society elites? Comparing elite composition, reproduction, integration and contestation in European civil societies
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a591c507-2652-4a25-8bb8-62dfbddc44b9
date added to LUP
2024-06-12 08:28:19
date last changed
2024-06-12 09:35:11
@article{a591c507-2652-4a25-8bb8-62dfbddc44b9,
  abstract     = {{The presence of an elite group in civil society elicits a discursive friction between the long-standing normative understanding of civil society, acting as a check on government overreach and autocratic tendencies, and elite theories. Robert Michels’s iron law of oligarchy posits that as individuals rise in the ranks to become organizational leaders, they begin to take on elite attributes, and their priorities align with those of other elites and away from those of their constituents. Michels’s argument echoes with today’s populist anti-elitist rhetoric and the way populism rejects any intermediary bodies between the people and the political leaders, including interest organizations in civil society. As an attempt to empirically probe this theoretical tension, this paper explores satisfaction with the way democracy is working among the top-level leaders of the most well resourced national-level civil society organizations in Sweden and in the UK, drawing on a survey study conducted in 2020–21.}},
  author       = {{Baxter, Megan K. and Lee, Jayeon and Odai, Minja and Scaramuzzino, Roberto}},
  issn         = {{0957-8765}},
  keywords     = {{Civil society leaders; Democracy; Elite; Power; Representation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Voluntas}},
  title        = {{The Paradox of Elites in Civil Society : A Comparative Study on Civil Society Leaders’ Satisfaction with Democracy in the UK and Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11266-024-00669-0}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11266-024-00669-0}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}